Ray Allen and Danny Granger haven’t had much in common throughout their NBA careers, other than an uncanny ability to occasionally get blistering hot as shooters and go on improbable scoring jags.

Now they share something else: A view that the Boston Celtics aren’t all that.

That was implicit in Allen’s decision to leave Boston and sign with the Miami Heat as a sharpshooting free agent — the veteran was unpersuaded by team president Danny Ainge’s moves to keep the band together or so hurt by perceived past slights that he hooked up with the Eastern Conference favorites. Now Granger has made it explicit in leapfrogging his own Indiana Pacers over the Celtics in the East’s pecking order.

In fact, when talking with Pacers beat guy Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star during his annual basketball camp in town, Granger ignored Boston completely – same thing with the New York Knicks – while at least nodding to the Nets’ fresh start and improved cast in Brooklyn.

Like everybody else in the Pacers organization, Granger is eager for the season to start after they were eliminated by Miami in six games in the second round of the playoffs last season.

“Still not over it,” Granger said laughing about losing to the Heat. “I’m over it. It happens. They were the better team. I think they deserved to win the championship. That’s the way it goes. We have to get better.”

The Eastern Conference will be better next season.

Brooklyn, Boston, New York and the Pacers are expected to be in the mix for seeds 2-4 in the East.

Granger believes they’ve got the second best team in the conference behind the Heat.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “Brooklyn, they are going to be a threat. Obviously Miami is going to be there, but I think we still view ourselves as a top-2 team in the East.”

One legitimate reason that Granger is emboldened is the anticipated step back that the Chicago Bulls will be taking while forced to play much or all of the season without star point guard Derrick Rose. That opens up the Central Division, with no team better poised to take over than the Pacers, 42-24 in the lockout-shorted 2011-12 season.

Indiana, coached by Frank Vogel, has made strides the past two years, challenging the Bulls in the first round in 2011. They then went up 2-1 in the conference semifinals in May against eventual champion Miami before losing the series 4-2. They dealt swiftly and largely below the radar in getting center Roy Hibbert and guard George Hill re-signed, added big man Ian Mahinmi for Darren Collison in a sign-and-trade deal with Dallas and will get busy in their development and team-bonding later in August in Los Angeles, Wells reported.

Now if they can avoid spitting out the bit.

“I think we’re still hungry,” Granger said. “When you have that drive you don’t become complacent. We had a good year, but we really didn’t accomplish anything yet. So, we all still realize that and we’re a veteran team and we know we have a long ways to go.”

Maybe longer than they’re even acknowledging, if the Celtics and the Knicks have a say in it.

94 Comments

This year Boston will have the same elite defense – the only defensive guy they lost is Pietrus, but Lee and Green more then make up for that. The diffence is that their depth and scoring power have increased dramatically through the addition of Terry, Lee, Green, Sullinger and Wilcox.

As a Boston fan the only thing that scares me is that Lakers front line…but we are a match for any other team out there.

Miami and Boston right now are the best teams in the East – they were the best in the East last season when it mattered most, both have made significant improvements, and until we see a different team in the ECF that hasn’t changed.

Every season since KG came to Boston they have been an elite defensive team, and that defense has consistently carried them deep in the playoffs, despite the fact that they have had a weak offensive and rebouding team PLUS the fact that they have faced arguably more adversity then any other team over that run.

2. Celtics
7. Bulls
(Ima Bulls fan, but with Derrick Rose’s torn ACL then nobody else can take over like Rose besides Luol Deng. But Luol Deng can not create his own shot, or shoot buzzer-beaters against playoff/title contenders, like Rose!

He really thinks that because they had the number 3 spot in the east due to the C’s many, many injuries on their part, that the Pacers will go up to number 2 with the C’s completely healthy and with an improved roster…… ?? Did they not take the Heat to 7 games in the ECF while still riddled with injuries? Love the attitude, but he can’t be very bright with that logic, especially when his team hasn’t improved whatsoever during the off season.

You couldn’t sound more rediculous…sure pacers lost collision and barbosa but they added dj augastin Gerald green and Ian mahimi,pacers are bigger faster stronger and most importantly younger than Boston, In fact doc rivers in a press conference last year said that the pacers remind him of a younger version of their team in 0’8.. Indy would of beat Boston in playoffs last season, sure Boston took Miami to 7 who cares they also went 7 with Philly, if they had played Indy in second round this wouldn’t even b an argument, 5th best record in league don’t lie and best vs west, Indy is comming for Miami in east finals, goldswagger

the pacers are young, sure, but they are nowhere near an elite team. 4-7 seed in the east next year. and theres no way they couldve beaten boston last year. and what are u talkin about??? dj augustin?? ian mahinmi?? gerald green?? cmon kid u cant be serious! they are non factors. they downgraded this summer

Philly like Boston were an elite defensive team, and the teams with elite defenses will never go away without a fight. If you think Indiana would have swept Philly you’re dreaming – it would have been a fight all the way, and Philly could easilly win..

Indiana fall in the came category as Chicago and Lebron-era Cleveland – they do great in the regular season, but they just can’t make it throught he playoffs.

Nooo, Pacers lost in 6 games celtics lost in last quarter. Advantage: Boston Pacers lost Barbosa, Collison, etc. Boston lost Ray Allen, got Jeff Green, THE JET, Chris Wilcox back, healthy Avery Bradley, Sullinger, Melo Advantage Celtics When you look at the Heat Celtics series last year, if both teams were completely healthy I think Boston wins and right now Boston’s second unit of terry, lee, green, sullenger, wilcox, could beat a lot of teams in the league. Indiana got worse and Granger is a superstar athlete but not a super star basketball player. Sorry Indiana, Boston is better

Half of you people can’t even type. Your comments make no sense. Also the Bulls scare absolutely no one. Their bench is worse. Rose won’t be himself all year. Also the Pacers were basically the only team to beat the Bulls in Chicago when Rose was actually healthy.

To all the Knicks fans. The Knicks PGs are terrible. Melo and Amare don’t mesh. If your team is so good why did they BARELY make the playoffs.

Pacers #1 record vs. the Western Conference. #5 best record in the NBA. You might not watch them, but you will watch them beat your team this year.

Granger should have pride in his team,but to understimate the celtics is crazy.Miami beat Indiana in 6 and beat Boston in 7.indiana is honestly not that talented they just play tough.Granger is not as good as he used to be.That’s why he played dirty against Lebron because he couldnt guard him.This isnt bandwagon talk this is facts.Lebron destroyed Granger that series.Indiana will definitely be in the top 4 though.

Granger didn’t play dirty Lebrun is just a baby, granger got in his face because it was strategic the mavs got in his head so indyfigured they would try in worked in game 3 but heat were jus better last year,but idk about this year

you guys obviously know nothing about basketball claiming celts will be 2nd seed , Miami beat Celts with Bosh coming back from injury and not play as he use to play . Also Bosh was out most of the indiana series and the problem with that series what Hubert being 7’3 and we were still able to beat so . I think 1.Miami 2. Knicks got a couple new people 3. Celtics maybe jason terry and garnett are old dont expect much from them and Nets are trash they won’t make it to the play-offs I can bet anything Boston was never a threat to Miami Asoon as bosh came back we won the series …..

I have to disagree. IMO Knicks or Celtics is number 2, with the other one being number 3. Knicks now have a healthy Melo, Tyson, 2 good point guards in Kidd and Felton, 2 shooting guards on each side of the floor(Brewer – defense, Smith – offense), and Shumpert’s eventually coming back. And Celtics aren’t hurt anymore and have Terry and Lee now.

Pacers haven’t gotten much better to my knowledge, and weren’t all that good last year tbh. They might even be behind Brooklyn.

The Knicks were the 7 seed you don’t magically rise up in the standings…they are simply overhyped. Ecause they are in NY…please enough of this Knicks are good thing. Pacers are second in east and will upset Mia in playoffs… The only reason Miami/ Boston r good is because of their payroll I would. Love too c them b successful with Induy,s payroll.. Pacers where built not bought

That was just a test, I don’t know why people are so quick to discount Chicago- we may not finish top again without Rose, but Thibs had as much to do with the Bulls success as Rose did and people forget that. Not to mention we have one of the top 5 defensive small forwards in the league in Deng- who has proven time and time again that he can defend Lebron, KD and definitely Danny Granger. By making them less effective, you make their teams considerably weaker especially Miami. Look for a strong Bulls push late in the season

I can’t understand why many people count out the bulls already ?
With current roster and D-Rose out for most of the season, I think the bulls still the top 4 team in the east.
The only team in east that better than the bulls is miami and none else.

the bulls are garbage now. kirk hinrich isnt going to help. that was a dumb trade. marquis teague is garbage, boozer is horribly inconsistent, and noah is nothing but a hustle player and an average defender. with rose back they will be….ok…..but they are out of contention for a few years, even with rose they are just an above average team. never title contenders. the heat, celtics, nets, knicks, and about 10 or 11 other teams are waaaayyy better than chicago

ok let me clarify things as a heat fan….. Boston is our only threat that said if your a heat fan youll agree we do get nervous as fans when we play the boys in green regular season wise i see indiana gettin that 2 seed but the season dont mean s&%#!!! playoffs boston is the only ones who can take it to us period!!! NY knicks effin GARBAGE with fatboy melo who aint a winner. Nets ehh dwills will hold it down proly get elimated first round by boston lol as for the rest of the east pathetic .. theres potential but besides those 5 teams mia,bos,ind,nets, ………..ny nothing really. makes you wish the heat played both L.a teams the grizz ,spurs,dallas, thunder on a reegular basis lol

Now this writer is just looking for drama. It’s pathetic. Maybe he ignored Boston because it ain’t the perfect fit for him? or he doesn’t wanna live there? e.t.c. Besides can Celtics even afford him? I doubt…And what does Ray Allen have to do with this? smfh y’all just conjure stuff up. If Celtics were/ are so damn terrible why did he sign with em in the first place? can you answer that? no? yea, didn’t think so.

Okay first of all the Knicks are incredibly overrated. Honestly it is absurd to put them in the contender category,they were 7th In the East and Only won 36 games. It’s just laughable to put them ahead of the pacers,heat,celtics. Second of all the Pacers would of beatce lyrics in playoffs lat year. It took 7 games to beat Philly in second round there is no way celtics would of beat the pacers they got lucky that thet go an eight seed and not the three seed pacers. It basically comes down to this Miami Brooklyn Boston and new York will be over the pacers because of the markets there in. I respect Boston so it is reasonable to put them ahead of Indy but I don’t want to hear anything about the Knicks it is plain nonsense.Pacers built their team didn’t buy it. Boston NY and MIA would be nothing if they didn’t have all the. Money to spend. Pat Ridley isn’t even tht good of a gm he just goes where t money is. It’ll b heat pacers in east finals..I got pacers winning because I’m a die hard and there more mature and poised to win.

Granger was an All-Star .. thats an accomplishment. He won a medal with USA .. thats an accomplishment. He got the Most Improved Player Award .. thats an accomplishment. The Pacers are definitely gonna be top 2 in the East no question. They dont need a go-to-guy as you can see throughout last season. Pacers still got that number three spot in the East, they got past the first round of the playoffs and they put up a battle with the Heat at the beginning of the series. That series was a learning experience and it will only make them better this season. The Pacers have so many options, Granger doesnt have to be the “GO-To-Guy”, there so balanced, anyone can be the “Go-To-Guy” at any given night. So get off Grangers back for just being honest, I mean what is he supposed to say, idk if we can compete this year in the East, or we wont make the playoffs this season or we will be competing with the Nets for the number 4 seed because Boston, Miami, and New York are better than us ..

danny granger is really trippin the pacers are weak in trash they will never be the number 2 seed in the east they better watch out for my team the new york knicks baby danny granger nots tough hes a wanna be tough guy hes soft like a baby butt man hes need to quit it with all the tough guy act

i guess.. the seed in the east will be..
1. miami
2. boston
3. new york
4.pacers
5.bulls
6.sixers
7.hawks
8.orlando
brooklyn still need time to have chemistry.. maybe next year they will be in the playoffs..

Lol…you’re crazy to really think that the bulls and magic will still be in the playoffs and not the nets who have a serious back court and a point guard in d-will. No Rose….no playoffs for bulls. No Howard….no playoffs for magic. Both teams didn’t get anybody to replace their stars that will really put them in playoff contention or get them out the first round even if they did go. It’s just an opinion, and I respect yours as well, but logically the seeding for the east doesn’t make sense

Danny will talk and the Pacers will be good. Two things people will just have to realize. Pacers had the 5th best record in the NBA last year, and with the best record vs the all-mighty western conference. It takes time for team for gel, and the Pacers are one of the few teams that had a good record, and have played together. Yes they didn’t change much, but their bench is better in my opinion. Last year they lost to Miami because when Roy got in foul trouble they had Lou Amundson as their center for too long. Now they have Ian Mahinimi, which is better. I am also excited to see Green and Augustin on a good team this time around.

Granger how about u accomplish something as far as your career before claiming to be #2 or anything. There’s a reason why the Pacers couldn’t compete with Miami, because your team has no go-to-guy. Granger is suppose to be the Pacers best player and couldn’t provide nothing. Lebron had Granger on lock down the entire.

I think the writer of this article is just trying to stir up fake controversy. What else is Granger suppose to say though I disagree with him as well as others outside of Indiana. It’s possible the Pacers can be #2, but having a top seed doesn’t guarantee your team success. The Pacers need to win an actual playoff series against an actual good team. Right now the Pacers don’t have much to compete with the likes of Boston. The Nets I can’t speak for, because they haven’t done anything. The Knicks got older this offseason, but I can see them being better or even beating the Pacers in playoff series.

The Pacers are a better version of the Hawks. The only difference is the Hawks actually have or had 3 all-stars in Horford, Johnson and Smith.

I think the Pacers could very well end up as a #2 seed, but Brooklyn and Boston will both have a few things to say about that. Chicago played well during the regular season last year without Rose, so you can’t count them out entirely, but I don’t think they did themselves any favors during the off-season. But seriously, Danny Granger needs to just shut his mouth. Nobody cares, he’s an above average player but acts like a thug on the court instead of a leader, and will likely be the guy they look to trade when they realize they’re not quite good enough as is. He’s a cap killer right now for underwhelming production.

I Do Believe the Pacers have a legitimate chance of taking the #2 seed. Miami is the clear favorite to win the east altho the competition at the top is a bit more stiff. I dont see the Stoudemire/Anthony-Defense-PG Combo being as effective as Knick fans envision but they’ll be up there, #2 no…Pacers definitely have what it takes to reach that[Miami fan here]

hahaha your a fool if u think philly, ATL, detroit are gonna finish higher than the Knicks homie…BOS n MIA will duke it out for 1st but sorry man…BK doesn’t have a thorough bench so I dont kno bout all that hype anyways

This author is clearly trying to make people upset with Danny Granger. Hes trying to make it seem like Danny Granger is the bad guy by putting up that video clearly .. but lets be realistic Danny Granger is right , the Knicks are not going to be better than the Pacers niether will the Celtics .. I dont even think Brooklyn will be good this year. Danny Granger is not talking to much, he just states the obvious and tells the truth. You guys are to hung on these superstar players and teams and you forget about these silent killer teams like the Pacers. Pacers will most likely be a top 2 seed in the East, and they’re obviously going to win the Central Division.

I would like to see them TRY to get the No. 2 seed lol. Celtics made some major moves this off season, getting Jason Terry & Courtney Lee. If you ask me they have declined losing Collison because he was their little spark plug.

As a Pacers fan, I’m obviously a little bit biased, but I think that they have a shot at #2. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Nets because of all the new faces, New York is very inconsistent, and without Jeremy Lin, and nobody knows how well Boston is going to fare with their advanced age. I don’t know if the Pacers are better than the Celtics yet, but they are definitely better than New York and Brooklyn.

I really wish Danger Granger would shut the hell up and let his game do the talking. The Pacers are a good team with potential but Granger talks to much. To think that they are a better team than the Celtics at this point with all of their off-season acquisitions is presumptuous at best and completely foolish at worst.

Sure Miami won last season so technically you have to say they’re the team to beat. That said, with Bradley Oneal Green and WIlcox out, the Celtics came within one game of eliminating the Heat. Danny Ainge has done an incredible job with the team this offseason and it shouldnt be a surprise to anyone if the Celtics take the first or second seed in the East. Lets be realistic here… Lebrons a beast but Pierce usually matches him scoring wise and Bradley can handle Wade (he already proved that). Oh and anyone who says Bosh is in Garnetts league should probably stop watching basketball!

lebron’s on his zone at this point of his career n wade’s just too good for bradley to handle… guess wat rey allen already figured that out n he joined force with lebron-wade n the heat if there’s a team to that has any chance 2 beat miami that’d be OKC but no matter what heat’s on top all yr long……..

Danny and the pacers won’t be causing any trouble this year… There aren’t any threats for the heat but themselves. Boston will be ahead of Pacers along with NY.. Danny’s gonna get himself in trouble during season if he runs up on people like he tried in the Playoffs! They won’t be making all that much noise in my opinion, they will be 5 seed if they don’t fall apart in full 82 game season.. We shall see!

I think Boston and Brooklyn have a higher ceiling than the Pacers, but that doesn’t mean the Pacers won’t get the 2 seed in the East. Boston has shown that will conserve energy and minutes for its players and sacrifice regular season wins if it means better health in the playoffs. And the Nets will take a while to get acclimated to each other as the main cogs haven’t had that much time on court together. The Knicks aren’t a a legitimate threat as their backcourt situation is terrible with bad/washed up point guards and Iman Shumpert out most of the season. And the Bulls will struggle without D. Rose most of the season and a definitely depleted bench compared to last year’s. Pacers definitely will have every opportunity to get the 2 seed.

I think with the way Boston played Miami in the playoffs and the stellar offseason they have had (despite losing Ray Allen), Boston is still number 2 in the east, and a threat to Miami in the playoffs.

The Boston Celtics have the best back court overall in the league. Lineup: Rajon Rondo,Courtney Lee,Avery Bradley,Jason Terry. They will carry the Celtics this coming season. I am a Lakers fan but Kobe and Nash are too old and they need a lot of luck to return to the NBA finals; they are 2nd or 3rd in the west at best.

I Agree, yes, the miami heat will probably still be number one in the east and yes, they will be very tough to beat, but i still think the Celtics are number 2 and have a great opportunity to get back to the finals with the moves that they made. They got a lot in return after losing Ray Allen. Knicks need a PG, Brooklyn is going to be like miami the first year and will need to develop, and pacers still need some improvement

I dont understand why you think he is weird, hes just not a punk and wont back down fron superstar players like Lebron James that think they can run the court. Danny Granger could be “Built for the big time” but he really doesnt have to, look at the balanced team the Indiana Pacers have.

If Granger is a weirdo for wanting to compete and not back down, then the NBA needs more Grangers. Keep on doing your thing…..let all the experts, and writers and fans weigh in on what you do and say…just compete and do what you need to do. I like the Indiana team and Granger is a tough competitor.

Granger, in that series against Miami, was a wannabe tough guy, so was Wade. James was the best player then and just like what Granger said – Heat played better. Pacers are well balanced team, but #2 ?.. mmm, I won’t count on that after all the changes in the summer. This is the current seeding – Heat, Knicks, Pacers, Celtics, Nets, 76ers, Bulls, Bucks, .